The Teen Titan Tales
by magicmadnessheavensin
Summary: A series of stories that focus on the members of the infamous Teen Titans. [Won't be updated for a while, mainly 'cause it needs to be edited] {Rated for language}
1. of sleeping and sadness

**Author's Note: Okay, I know I haven't updated 'Beautiful Malice' in ages. Since late June, I've had half of the chapter done and I just needed to finish off a little bit. However I'm now on holiday and I wasn't allowed to bring my laptop and because I'm an idiot, I forgot to send myself the other half of the chapter and therefore I cannot finish it off or post it! I'm so sorry! Anyways, welcome to 'The Teen Titan Tales' a new series of seperate one-shots based on the Teen Titans (any of them). Right now I'm looking for one word prompts only. Anyway, I'm going to try and update this as much as possible!**

 **Lots of love**

 **\- Valentina.**

This wasn't what best friends were supposed to do together.

It was highly inappropriate for several reasons; the first being that they were two teenagers of the opposite gender, regardless of their relationship. Another argument was that he was her leader; favouritism was unneeded on the battlefield.

People don't share a bed with their best friend, especially when she was an innocent alien girl.

But as he trudged towards the door, fully aware that Starfire would be standing on the other side expectingly, Robin mused on the nature of their relationship. They'd always thrived in the grey areas, bouncing between the boundaries of best friends, and something more. He cared for her more than the others, and the temperament of the bond was different to the one he shared with Raven.

The first time they'd done this was after the Red X suit had been stolen. He'd been so ashamed, felt so disgusted with himself that he'd been so careless to allow some person to take control. Starfire had spent a large majority of the night reassuring him that he wasn't to blame, and when he'd woken up she had still been there, curled up into a ball, a curtain of hair resting on his shoulder.

After that, he'd lost track of how many times this had happened. Sometimes she would come to him, and other times he would find himself standing at the foot of her bed, consumed by feelings of loneliness and disrepair.

The doors parted and Starfire stood there, the epitome of perfection. Bright copper strands resting on her shoulders, a charcoal-coloured t-shirt and white shorts. She looked exhausted; dust pooling at the corner of her long lashes, but kept a pleasant expression - the corners of her lips turned up - regardless.

His breath hitched for a second before he grinned. "Hey," he acknowledged.

"Greetings," she replied, but her words lacked the typical cheerfulness they usually held. It didn't take a detective to figure out why. The events of the day had hurt her; Val-Yor had spent eight hours calling her an evil name, cursing her existence and they'd blindly worshipped him; letting his talents cloud their judgement of him. Robin had been unaware of Starfire's cold demeanour until Cyborg had notified him, and he'd been feeling guilty about it ever since.

She was his best friend, and he hadn't even paid attention to her reactions.

There was an empty silence as she settled on his bed, yawning slightly. Her eyes fluttered, and her arms stretched to the side. The moonlight shining through the windows made her movements seem ethereal and unearthly, like a beautiful ghost. She didn't speak; she bundled the covers up to her chest and leant towards him, hair pooling around her like liquid silk.

"Star?" he whispered, daring to break the tranquility. "I'm so sorry for not realising what Val-Yor was calling you." The words tumbled out of his mouth quickly, and he winced at how childish he sounded.

"It is alright," she murmured, her eyes already closed.

He copies her, snuggling closer. But as the minutes trickled by, her hushed sobs became more audible and the tears splashed more frequently on the side of her pillow.

"Starfire?!" Robin asked, his voice betraying his attempt to stay calm. "Are you okay?"

She nodded and her words were slow and steady, almost as if she was struggling to let them out.

"That word." she snarled, but then her voice softened considerably. "I...I have not heard it since my time with the Gordanians. I-It brings back bad memories. Memories I do not want to remember."

His grip against the pillow tightened anger cascading off of him in large waves. Starfire didn't like to refer to her time spent as a slave - an action he understood greatly - and the few words that referred to it portrayed the worst imaginable place. His stomach always lurched at the thought of Starfire - kind Starfire who cried when she crushed a spider - forced to stay there for two fucking years. While normal kids were finishing Middle School and developing crushes, she was doing God knows what in some dingy prison cell.

Robin shuffled closer to her body, her impenetrable warmth brushing against his skin. "I'm so sorry."

Her green eyes open and she blinked at him. "You are sorry," the alien repeated. "For what?"

He almost chuckled at her innocence. "I'm sorry that you had to deal with the Gordanians." he amended, and a small smile tugged at her lips.

She closed any remaining space between them and lay her head on his shoulder breathing quietly. "Me too." Starfire admitted.

He listened to her soft breaths before checking that his mask was positioned correctly on his face. Robin wasn't comfortable with sleeping with his mask off, especially when Starfire was sharing the same bed.

"Good night," she mumbled.

"Good night," he replied.

And for the next seven hours, everything was right in the world — or at least for the two sleeping teenagers located in the second room, of the east corridor in the Titans Tower, wrapped in red blankets, curled up against one another.


	2. of best friends and jealousy

**_AAuthor's Note: Hi there! This prompt was me imagining how life in the Tower would be after Trigon was defeated. Obviously Robin and Raven grew closer during that time (it's up to you how you want to interpret in, personally I believed in was a platonic relationship but obviously RobRae fans will interpret it differently.)_**

 ** _Anyway, I believed that Robin would probably spend more time with Raven (again, interpret this your own way) and this drabble focuses on how Starfire would feel towards that. Now this bit is important because I personally believe that Starfire would notice it and regardless of how sweet she is, she definitely would find parts of it upsetting._**

 ** _Lots of love_**

 ** _\- Val_**

* * *

Starfire had never felt so ashamed in her life. Even the time she had dropped her crown on her mother's foot during Tamaran's Great Feast that celebrated the lives of all deceased warriors, seemed like a mere accident in comparison to the emotions swimming through her mind. There had to be something wrong with her (perhaps she was succumbing to the Earthen trait of insanity) because no typical Tamaranean would ever possess such thoughts of jealousy.

But no matter how hard she tried to ignore them, the words would filter into her head before she could fathom what was going on.

It had started off moments before Robin had begun his descent into Hell to find Raven, accompanied by his biggest enemy. She'd hugged him and then the question had appeared in her brain, in all of its malicious glory:

 _Do you think Robin would do that for you?_

It had seemed innocent in nature at the time, but the feelings associated with it had been far from. They'd made her stomach churn with pure guilt; Raven was dying and Starfire had been consumed by petty jealousy.

And when she'd fought her negative self, before her body had been flung into the rocky shore, the evil Starfire had whispered in her ear.

"How do you think your friends would react if they knew of your feelings?"

The question had sent her reeling to the side; her evil opposite had seized the opportunity and struck her with a large starbolt, strong enough to knock her balance and send her crashing into the waves below. The physical attack barely scathed her; it was the threat and consequences that made any long lasting damage.

The next time those horrible feelings stirred up once more was the journey back to the tower. All was right in Jump City after the inevitable defeat of Trigon; Starfire's friends were all safe from harm and she waited in gleeful anticipation for the fun times ahead. Raven was draped in white - the alien girl was unsure of the symbolism, in Tamaran white signified danger or served as a warning - and there was a lovely smile on her face. And Robin held a mixture of emotions - happiness, relief, exhaustion.

The Boy Wonder had turned to his friends, complete with the boyish smirk Starfire had grown so fond of, and said, "Let's go home and celebrate with some pizza!"

Beast Boy accompanied with a goofy grin had nudged Cyborg with his elbow. "Dude, I'm so gonna beat you in 'ZombieVamps!' Race ya to the T-Car!"

"It is on! Hey Star!" Cyborg called out. "Do you wanna grab a ride with us?"

And although Starfire would not have minded travelling with the two friends, she wanted to speak to Robin and see if she could aid him in his unavoidable quest to document the whole ordeal in the 'work of paper.' She opened her mouth, caught the end of Robin's discussion with Raven — "Do you wanna come with me on the R-Cycle?" — and had promptly blurted out a loud, "I will fly home, do not worry."

Raven had decided to join Cyborg and Beast Boy in the T-Car, murmuring quietly about possibly refereeing one of their 'stankball' games. This left the masked wonder and the princess of Tamaran standing a few metres away from each other.

Robin did not even spare a glance at her, and had disappeared to find his motorbike.

She'd frozen, overwhelmed by a sudden flood of confusion and hurt. But once more, she had guiltily dismissed the feelings and focused on the celebrations to come. They had just saved the word for X'hal's sake.

But their brief interactions had not ended there. The days following the whole Trigon ordeal were leisurely due to the lack of criminal activity in Jump City, as well as the plenitude of warm weather that greeted the citizens. The time spent was relaxing and lovely — or at least it was for four members of the team.

Starfire found herself tearing apart with utter mortification at the girl she was becoming. Robin had surprisingly — and unfortunately for Starfire — taken interest in spending more time with Raven (in actual fact, all of the team had), leaving the resident Tamaranean at cross-roads.

Raven had survived a horrific event, and she was finally embracing her emotions as opposed to rejecting them like she had currently been doing. She was discovering a new side of mental freedom, one that Starfire was familiar with and subsequently adored.

But it hurt to be ignored by her two closest friends. She had done nothing wrong and yet Robin had somehow managed to avoid interacting with her for the past three days. During movie night he had invited Raven to take Starfire's seat (which she had graciously accepted), he hadn't watched a single sunset (or sunrise) with her, and he had barely looked in her direction.

Her stomach twisted and turned into uncomfortable coils, and Starfire closed her eyes briefly, in a futile attempt to rid herself of this disgusting attitude. Raven and Robin were closer — there was nothing wrong with that, right?

But as she mused on the matter considerably, the points began to form in her mind. Raven and Robin seemed — in a horrible twist of fate — almost perfect for each other. They both had similar names (what was the saying? birds of a feather did something together?), and both were very alike in personality.

* * *

There was a knock at her door that ripped Starfire away from her thoughts. She paused for a second before typing in the access code, watching as the doors parted. "Greetings friend, how may I —"

The words died in her throat as she took in the figure, leaning against the wall.

"Robin," The name came out breathlessly, accompanied with a hurricane of unresolved feelings.

"Hey," He was nonchalant, but there was a small smile that was tugging against his lips that she was dimly aware of. "Have you seen Raven?"

Any positive emotion thriving inside of her faltered, and she inhaled sharply. "No, I have not seen her." A cold tone settled with her words.

He blinked, mouth parted slightly. "Are you okay?" he asked hesitantly. "You've been holed up in your room all day. I- We've been worried about you," he amended.

She let her self smile at his slip of words, before letting her attention slide to his outstretched hand positioned towards her.

"I know I've barely been talking to you, but I was wondering if you want to go and watch the sunset with me. Apparently it's going to be one of the longest."

And as her fingers entwined with his, she smiled. The feelings of hurt, confusion, anger, and jealousy all dissipated around her. All that mattered was him.


	3. of driving and exhaustion

Cyborg almost hit a tree on the way home but I don't think anybody (including him) noticed. Raven had her eyes closed, sitting in the passenger seat, her face covered by the cloak. The only reason she was sitting there (and not me) was because a sleep-deprived, pissed off, half-demon who could send me into my own personal hell was a force not to be reckoned with.

We'd been waking up three times every night (sometimes four) for the past week due to the influx of criminals hoping to get away with their crimes in the late hours. Idiots like Dr Light, Mumbo, Ding Dong Daddy, even Control Freak (who seemed too lazy to be bothered with this sort of thing) who didn't pose much of a threat but still had to be stopped.

Beast Boy has turned into a kitten and was curled up on the seat, snoring away. Out of all of us, he definitely sleeps the most, so it makes sense when he's the first one to fall asleep.

Cyborg's eye is opened wider than usual, and he is blinking a lot - more than expected. His hands are clutching the steering wheel pretty tightly, and I can hear him swearing under his breath (not the most appropriate language for a superhero, but right now that didn't matter).

I honestly have no problem with this arrangement. I've been awake for five days without any sleep (thanks a lot, Bruce!) so a few days with less than eight hours doesn't affect me at all. There are a few times where I'm pretty sure that the only thing running through my veins is caffeine, but that is really beyond the point.

Truthfully, I'm more worried about Starfire but that isn't because I have a massive crush on her (you can blame that exaggeration on Cyborg. I only have a tiny crush); it's 'cause she's solar powered, and all of the fighting at night drains her completely. She's sitting on the middle seat (which doesn't make any sense considering she's the tallest) eyes drooping.

In the pale light her skin looks more sickly and she looks completely exhausted. I nudge her with my shoulder, fixing her with a smile.

"You can go to sleep if you want," I say. "We've still got half an hour before we reach the tower."

"Oh," she says and gives me a tired smile. "Thank you Robin."

I like the way she says my name (god, I sound so girly! Imagine what Beast Boy and Cyborg would say if they could hear me). It's as if she's addressing a loved one; the affection is evident.

I didn't really expect her to shut her eyes immediately afterwards, but it didn't really matter, I guess. I certainly didn't expect her to rest her head on my shoulder and snuggle into me.

Cyborg gives me a knowing look in the rear-view mirror, smirking. I can hear his voice in my mind — "Somebody's getting cosy with their girlfriend." — with the last word in a sing-song way.

I want to retort something back at him but I'll end up waking everybody else up, so I just fixate on him with my best imitation at the Bat-Glare. It's enough to stop him smirking, but it's nowhere near as powerful as Bruce's.

Speaking of now, what would Bruce say if he could witness this scene? He'll definitely criticise everybody's lack of alertness, and then start giving me a lecture about encouraging inappropriate behaviour with Starfire, my teammate. He'd remind me that dating her would mess up the team dynamics, put her in trouble and basically ruin everything.

Thank god he's not here.

I'm not as pissed at him for being an absolute ass — okay, maybe I still am — and I do sometimes go and visit him and Alfred (and more recently, Babs) once every few months. But even when he finds a way to rile me up — it's probably some sort of amusement — at the end of the day, he does (sort of) care for me.

Starfire stirs a little, sighing in her sleep wistfully, which was kind of cute. (Again Dick, finding yourself going sappy again!) She seems to snuggle even closer into me.

Everybody knows Star's pretty, heck I was aware of that fact when I first met her (I would even call her incredibly beautiful — and sexy, but only in warrior princess mode.) but when she's sleeping it's a whole new world of innocent beauty. Thick lashes, red hair and a small smile of content.

Cyborg's watching me in the mirror again, chuckling. I try to scowl in return but he really didn't care. Him and Beast Boy seem to enjoy making fun of me whenever Starfire was concerned — unfortunately, that is pretty frequently.

The car swerves to the left and Cyborg starts swearing even louder. Raven's eyes flicker open and I gulp quietly, waiting for the big blow up.

"Can you not try and kill us please?" Her voice is dripping with sarcasm.

Cyborg doesn't even try to protest, much. "I'm sorry, but unless you can drive this thing, I'm the only option!"

"What about Robin, the Boy Wonder?" she sneers. "He can drive."

Both of them turn to look at me and I give them a half-hearted smile. I can drive, yes, but I prefer motorcycles and sports cars (no offence to the T-Car which isn't either of those).

Cyborg looks at me apologetically. "Man, I know you probably don't wanna," (he's got that right) "but can you, please? I'm bordering on accidentally killing us all, and you're the most alert."

I nod before realising that Starfire's on my shoulder, so instead settle with a small, "Yeah."

The T-Car slowed down and I unbuckled the seatbelt, muttering a quick apology to Star before hastily placing her off of me and onto the seat. Her head droops but I was already out of the car.

Cyborg has the nerve to kick Raven out of the front seat, stating that he has to be at the front. She gives him a look that screams murderous rage, before settling on my seat in the back and closing her eyes once more.

I like driving in the dark - I've always liked driving in the dark. There aren't any pedestrians to worry about and you can 'accidentally' go over the speed limit. But I can't — not because I'm the sensible leader, although that should be a factor — but because there are four other passengers to wouldn't take nicely to me doing that.

Twenty minutes of bored driving, going through French songs in my head. Usually I would listen to the radio (again, the four passengers' fault) or call Babs or not have to worry because I'm speeding and enjoying the adrenaline rush.

The tower's tunnel is right in front of me but I slow down to allow it to recognise me before the doors open. The tunnel is lit by rows of lights, extremely bright, extremely blinding. I'm probably going to have to ask Cyborg to reduce the intensity.

I park the car in the garage and shake him, who's already asleep. It's funny how everybody's sleeping, except for me, but we're going to have to do something about it (Cyborg and Beast Boy will hate me, Raven will want to kill me, but Starfire won't mind because she understands).

Up the little platform with Star who's half clinging on to me. My arms around her shoulders and she's turned towards me, eyes fluttering open and closed.

"Hey," I greet, and the corners of her lips quirk upwards. "How are your energy levels doing?"

"Not very well," she admits, and I have this sudden need to jump out of the tower and throw her towards the sky (except that it's night, the moon doesn't do anything for her in terms of energy, and she'd probably fall off the edge).

We find ourselves in the common room, dragging her through the carpeted floor. It would be easier for me to carry her bridal style (for reasons "unknown" — nice try Dick) because she's light (and I would know that for the several times I've caught her). But I'm not in the mood for teasing, and Tamaraneans have this whole thing about weakness, and allowing themselves to be carried would probably insult her culture.

I'm almost at her room when there's a loud alarm sound and the corridors flash red.

"Ughhh," Cyborg slurs. "Who is it now?"

I check using the screen on the corridor, letting go of Star who basically folds like a table into the ground.

"Mad Mod." I groan, really not in the mood for dealing with the eccentric old man who's obsessed with Britain.

Beast Boy's awake, along with Star. "Dude!" he cries. "Not another one!"


End file.
